


There Is More Than One Way

by taichara



Category: Legend of the Five Rings
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-01
Updated: 2015-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-04 19:41:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3086114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taichara/pseuds/taichara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Doji Hoturi "corrects" a fumble of etiquette in his own way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There Is More Than One Way

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: _any, any, paper_

Spring had come once again to Kyuden Doji. Beautiful rays of sunlight shot through the gardens, the songbirds were outdoing themselves in counterpoint to the sounds of blades scissoring past -- a bout of friendly sparring, from the cheerful shouting -- the entire kyuden was alive with renewed warmth and colour ...

... And Doji Hoturi, Champion of the Crane, was mewed up inside his office, staring down at the varigated scatter of papers across his writing desk as if they might leap up and seize him by the throat. 

_By the Fortunes, this is getting more complicated by the moment._

It didn't _have_ to be, of course. There was nothing intrinsically difficult about dashing off a bit of elegant diplomatic correspondence to the Imperial Court -- not after years of training to deal with exactly that, along with the countless other things his instructors had ingrained into his mind.

No, this was entirely because he knew oh so very well that Yoshi was going to be watching like a beady-eyed snake when that correspondence arrived. How the Kakita daimyo had managed it the last time, Hoturi had no idea; but he'd received a letter of his own about it and the scorn could be felt radiating off the pages despite the courtesy of the letter's contents. Even just the thought summoned Yoshi's voice, deep and rolling out of all proportion to his size, down onto him in tones of perfect admonishment.

_The worst of it being that he wasn't wrong. I could have made that selection better, even if I were more inclined to insult that damned Matsu openly._

_I still am. I'll just have to be more clever about it._

Sighing irritably -- the convenience of being momentarily alone -- Hoturi sifted through the selections of writing paper he'd narrowed his field of choices to and brushed a few trailing white strands of hair from his face with the other. Two options, really; he could go for the subtle route, a very subtle one, or he could make use of the special papers he'd ordered from the Kakita Academy. Toshimoko had dropped off the parcel himself just that morning, grinning like the wily old beast he was. Oh yes, the Grey Crane knew what his former student was playing at.

_And Yoshi's been in the Imperial Court too long. He's forgotten that the Lion have no concept of subtlety, and the Matsu even less than the average Lion._

_No, I think subtlety would be the wrong choice._

_Which is just the way I want it --_

After that, the selection was all too easy. Hoturi snipped the bindings from the parcel with a barely restrained chuckle, spreading the vibrant, delicate papers across his now-cleared desk, and felt his irritation fade away into the perfect moment of clarity. 

Writing letters was like a long-distance duel, in a way, after all.

As the first strokes of his brush glided across the first page, he made a note to be certain to send an appropriate gift to the Academy. The work was perfect; delicate, creamy surface, the finest of quality, with a faint tinge of Crane blue to the curling fibres that fringed the edges, but a motif of feline watermarks scattered deliberately at random in the body of the pages.

And, if one were paying attention, those were not lions, but housecats.


End file.
